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Marilyn Parker on Monday hands Tate Elementary School students books -- delivered via stagecoach -- that were donated to the school's library by Wells Fargo. From left are kassi Alexandra, 5, Jessica Schumaker, 10, Silvano Moreno, 6, Alurea Stevens, 6, Luis Guijarro, 6, and Jessica Ibbara, 6.

Tuesday, May 15, 2001
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Bank deposits stagecoach full of books at school

Donation in response to literacy campaign

Wells Fargo Bank Nevada arrived at Tate Elementary School on Monday with a stagecoach full of new books and a pledge for $250,000.

The donations are the company's response to the Clark County READS campaign, an effort to update and modernize school libraries throughout the Clark County School District. The literacy push, launched May 4, has brought together local government, business and education officials.

Laura Schulte, chief executive officer of Wells Fargo Bank Nevada, said what caught her attention was the ratio of books to children in the district. Nationally, the average number of library books per student is 18 to one. In Clark County, the average is seven to one.

"I was shocked at how poorly Clark County books measured up to the rest of the nation." Schulte said. "The bottom line is that our kids need more books."

During the presentation of books to Tate, Schulte challenged other Nevada businesses to make the same commitment of resources to literacy. In addition to the cash donation, Wells Fargo will also give its 1,000 employees the opportunity of donating an hour a month to volunteer as reading tutors in public schools. The company will also match individual employee donations to Clark County READS, up to $6,000 for each individual.

Tate students, dubbed Reading Rangers for the day, lined the sidewalk to help unload the 300 new additions to their school library, at 2450 Lincoln Road. Librarian B.J. Buttell looked on with pleasure, estimating that she'll be able to get the books catalogued and on the shelves within a week.

"This is tremendous," Buttell said. "It's all the kids have been able to talk about for a week."

At-risk schools will be among the first to receive new books and materials. Clark County Commissioner Dario Herrera, who started the campaign, said he was appalled to find schools that had books describing John F. Kennedy as the most recent U.S. president, and books that predated man's first steps on the moon.

"JFK was assassinated long before I was even born," Herrera said.

Clark County READS aims to collect or buy 400,000 books for students in kindergarten through third grade by the end of the year. Within the next two years, the program expects to have added 1.5 million books to school libraries and kindergarten through 12th grade classrooms.